Merchandise display and dispensing device



March 26, 1963 w. R. vos ETAL 3,083,067

MERCHANDISE DISPLAY AND DISPENSING DEVICE Filed May 5, 1960 4 Sheets-Shee 1.

March 26, 1963 w. R. vbs ETAL 3, 6

MERCHANDISE DISPLAY AND DISPENSING DEVICE Filed May 5, 1960. 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 an" M I Wmwmgwmoeluuwi war-r35.

March 26, 1963 w. R. vos ETAL l 3,083,067

MERCHANDISE DISPLAY AND DISPENSING DEVICE Filed May 5, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 S v r March 26, 1963 w. R. vos ETAL MERCHANDISE DISPLAY AND DISPENSING DEVICE Filed May 5, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 This invention pertains to a dispenser and, in particular, to a novel device for displaying and dispensing merchandise.

Heretofore, it has been the practice in the merchandise display art to provide trays rather narrow in depth for the articles of display merchandise, in order that such articles may remain visible to the customer after the front ranks of the stacked articles of merchandise therein may have been removed. In this regard, the bulk of the cubic space of the display cabinet would not be utilizable for dispensing merchandise from the front thereof. Economic use of the non-display space was made only by providing a storage area separate from the display area, access to such non-display space being made available by means of doors or drawers which opened only to the rear of the cabinet. Of course, additional drawers and storage space could be provided at the front of the cabinet beneath the display area, but that utilization of space would not solve the problem of economical employment of the space behind the rather narrow display area. Rear access to the non-display space necessarily rendered it utilizable only for purposes of storage, since it was not readily available for easy access in dispens ng merchandise directly to the customer.

It is an object of this invention to provide a dispenser of a simple and economical construction that may be used in the displaying and dispensing of merchandise such as knit and woven underwear.

Another object of the invention is to provide a dispenser which not only enables a merchant to keep the merchandise in visible attractive display, but also allows merchandise to be stored all the way to the back of the unit, thereby resulting in total utilization of the entire cubic space occupied by the fixture.

A further object of the invention is to provide a dispenser having a compartment :for containing a plurality of items of merchandise in which such items are sandwiched between a front retaining bar and a rear retaining panel, which is biased toward the front of the compartment, so that merchandise stored at the back of the unit automatically is advanced forwardly to replace items that are removed from the front of the unit.

A yet further object of the invention is to provide a dispenser for displaying merchandise in which a plurality of items are aligned from front to rear therein between a forwardly-biased rear retaining panel and a rearwardly-biased, hinged, front retaining'bar.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a ispenser cabinet comprising a plurality of displaying and dispensing units, which may be readily arranged in a pleasing and aesthetic appearance so as to attract the eye of the customer.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent upon reading the specification with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevation of a display cabinet showing a plurality of dispensing devices embodying the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a broken perspective view of one shelf of a display cabinet showing to better advantage a plurality of dispensing devices embodying the invention;

3,083,967 Patented Mar. 26, 1963 FIGURE 3 is an enlarged sectional View in side elevation of the display cabinet, along the lines 33 of FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 4- is an enlarged sectional view in side elevation of the top display tray, along the lines 44 of FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged sectional view in side elevation of the dispensing device, along the lines 55 of FIGURE 7;

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view in rear elevation of the dispensing device, along the lines d6 of FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 7 is a top plan view of the dispensing device;

FIGURE 8 is a bottom plan view of the dispensing device;

FIGURE 9 is an enlarged sectional View in side elevation of a modification of the dispensing device, showing the front retaining bar biased to the rear of the compartment;

FIGURE 9A is a front elevation of the modification shown in FIGURE 9;

FIGURE 10 is a sectional view in front elevation of another modification of the dispensing device showing a diiferent embodiment for the rear retaining panel and carriage; and

FIGURE 10A is an enlarged view of the modification shown in FIGURE 10,

Referring now to the drawings, FIGURES 1 through 3 show a plurality of dispensers 11 mounted on shelves within a display cabinet, and FIGURES 5 through 8 show the construction of the dispenser unit 11 from its component parts, so as to form a compartment 12 therein for containing items or" merchandise 13, such as knit or woven underwear.

The dispenser 11 and compartment 12 therein may be constructed of a base I l, including a front member 15, a rear member 16 and side members 17. These members may be suitably attached to one another so as to form a rectangular construction, as shown in FIGURE 7.

Another component of the dispenser 11 and the compartment 12 consists of a front retaining wall 18, which may be formed of a holding member 19 in which is suitably mounted a front retaining bar 2%). One method of mounting the retaining bar 20 is by force fitting it in holder 19, as shown in FIGURE 5. The holder 19 may be attached to the front member I5 of the base il iby any suitable means, such as by gluing and screws or nails 21.

Formation of the compartment 12, also includes the provision of a rear retaining wall 22, which may be angular in cross section, as shown in FIGURE 5, and mounted by means of its lower portion 23 to a carriage 24 by any suitable means, such as by screws 25. The carriage 24 has guide slots 26 running parallel to the horizontal plane of the carriage, as shown in FIGURE 6. The guide slots 26 co-act with the guide rails 27 mounted in the side portions of the side members 17, so as to provide a track on which the carriage 24 and rear wall 22 may be reciprocated axially within the dispenser 11.

The rear retaining wall 22 may be reciprocated by means of the carriage 24 along the track 27 between a a first position located near the front of the dispenser and a second position located near the rear of the dispenser. The rails 27 in combination with the guide slots 26 on the carriage 24 act to prevent movement of the carriage 24 and the rear retaining wall 22 in directions other than toward the first and second positions.

The carriage 24 and the rear retaining wall 22 are biased toward the front of the compartment 12 by any suitable means, such as by the coil spring 28. One method of employing a coil spring to bias the rear retaining wall 22 forward toward the front retaining wall 18 is shown in the drawings. As can be seen from FIGURES 5 and 8, the spring 28 passes through the slot 29 in the bottom of the carriage 24 and into the slot 30' in the rear portion of the front member 15 of the base 14, and is anchored at one end ,to the front member 15 by means of the anchor pin 31, threaded through the hole 3 2 in the front member 15, and at the other end to the carriage 24 by any suitable anchon snch as the staple 33.

V The front retaining wall 18 co-acts with the forwardbiased rear retaining wall 22 to form a means for aligning the articles of merchandise 13 within the dispenser 11 from front to rear, such means constituting two walls of the compartment 12.

Completing the arrangement of the component parts of the dispenser 11, and in order .to align themerchandise from side to side within the compartment 12, one or more side panel bars 34 are provided. The side panel bar 34 may be mounted on the side member 17 of the base 14 by any suitable means, such as by the use of the tab 35 on the bottom of the side panel bar 34, which tab rests in the slot 36 in the top portion of the side member 17.

To present a more pleasing appearance and to provide unimpaired accessto the items of merchandise displayed in the dispenser, the portion of the side panel bar 34 facing the front of the dispenser unit may have an inclined edge, such as that shown in reference 37.

It will now be seen that a plurality of dispensing units 11 may be mounted in one or more shelves 38, spaced from and related to one another by means of a suitable structural wall, such as the inclined wall '39. In turn, these shelves 38 may be mounted within a cabinet, as shown in FIGURE 1 and FIGURE 3, in any suitable manner so as to adequately display the dispensing units 11 for advantageous access in dispensing items of merchandise to the customer.

One embodiment of such a cabinet is shown generally at reference 40, in FIGURES l and 3, and may be formed of; a base j41, legs 42, front member 43, back member 44 andsidemembers 45 into which the shelves 38 may be suitably mounted, such as in the inclined planes shown in FIGURE 3. However, mounting the dispensers 11 on an inclination is not a necessary feature of the invention, and they, may be mounted iust as advantageously in a horizontal plane. As will be readily seen from FIGURE 3, the dispenser unit 11 extends to the rear of the cabinet 4!), thus utilizingsubstantially all of the available space for dispensing the articles of merchandise 13 at the front of the cabinet.

The upper portion of back member 44 may be suitably utilized for mounting a display tray 46 within a support member 47 by means of the leg 48 seated within a seat 49 in the back wall 44, such tray 46'being additionally supported by a suitable arm 50.

Que modification of the dispensing device is shown in FIGURES 9 and 9A. Instead of the stationary front retaining bar 20, a spring-operated, retaining member 51 may be hingeclly mounted on the front wall holder 19, such as in the manner illustrated. The lower portion 52 of the springybar -1 may be bent outwardly or inwardly at right angles-thereto, so as to lay in parallel relation to the holder 19. This lower portionr52may be mounted within asuitable sleeve 54 which is secured to the holder 19 and about which is mounted a coil spring 55 attached at one end to the spring bar 51 and at the other end to thesleeve 54. The sleeve 54 is attached to the holder 19 by any suitable means, such as by the screws 56. The spring bar 51 is prevented from moving further forward than normal to theholder 19 by means of the spring bar stop 53.

Another modification is shown inFIGURES and 10A, in whichthe rear retaining wall 22 has been replaced by a rear retaining member 58, mounted by any suitable means such as by spot welding on a rod 59, which is in turn suitably secured to a modified carriage 60. As illustrated more clearly in FIGURE 10A, the carriage .60 .is a. horizontal member adapted to be reciprocated axially within the base member 14 between the front and rear of the dispenser 11. In this regard, the carriage 60 rides within a track in the form of a slot 61 in the base 14. The carriage 60 and the rear retaining member 58 are biased toward the front of the dispenser 11 in the same manner as the carriage 24 and the rear retaining wall 22, that is, by a suitable biasing means, such as the spring 28, anchored to the carriage 60 by the staple 33 and to the base 14 or front retaining wall 18 by the anchor pin 31, in the same manner as is illustrated in FIGURE 5. To provide clearance for the spring 28, a suitable indentation, such as the slot 62, is provided in the base 14.

It will be apparent that'the invention may be modified so as to be applicable to other types of merchandise for display.

Although the invention has been described in terms of preferred embodiments, it is contemplated that these are merely by way of example and in no manner to be construed as limitations. It is apparent that certain modifications may be made within the scope of the claims without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

l. A dispenser for displaying merchandise comprising: a base member, wall means mounted on said base member and defining a compartment for containing articles of merchandise, said wall means including a pair of side walls mounted in spaced relation for aligning the articles therebetween, and front and rear walls mounted iii-spaced relationship for aligning the articles between the front and rear of the dispenser, first biasing means including said rear wall to bias the articles toward the front of said compartment, second biasing means including said front wall to bias the articles toward the rear of said compartment, said second biasing means including'a spring-biased member hingedly attached to said base member and defining said front wall, said first biasing means including a carriage attached to said rear wall and slidably connected with said base member, and spring means connected at one of its ends to said carriage and at the other of its ends to said base member, whereby said rear wall is biased toward said front wall in sliding relationship between said side walls.

2. The dispenser of claim 1 further characterized in that said spring biased member comprises a retaining bar.

I 3. A'merchandise display and dispensing device comprising: a cabinet, said cabinet having a plurality of shelves open to the front of said cabinet, each of said shelves constituting a base member, a plurality of dispensing units arranged on said shelves, each of said dispensing units being comprised of a compartment mounted on said base for containing articles of merchandise, each compartment including means for aligning the articles within said dispenser from side to side and from end to end, said aligning means including a pair of side panelmembers mounted on said base member, said end aligning means comprising a front retaining Wall and "a rear retaining Wall, said front retaining wall being hingedly attached to said base and spring-biased for pivotal movement in the direction of said rear retaining wall, reciprocating means slidably mounted on said base member to reciprocate said rear retaining wall between a first position and a second position, said first position being located near the front of said dispenser and said second position being located near the rear of said dispenser, said rear retaining wall reciprocating means, including a carriage on which said rear retaining wall is mounted, a track on said base member in alignment. with said first and said second positions and the means on said carriage for engaging said track and for preventing movement of said carriage in directions other than toward said first or second positions, and biasing means connected with said base member and said rear retaining wall to bias said rear retaining Wall toward the front of said dispenser, said biasing means including a coil spring, one endof which is 5 6 anchored .to said base member and the other end of which 1,971,749 Hamilton Aug. 28, 1934 is anchored to said carriage. 2,111,496 Scriba Mar. 15, 1938 2,129,122 Fo11ett Sept. 6, 1938 References Cited in the file of this patent 2,499,0 9 Brill et 1 Feb, 2 1950 UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 2,534,456 Kudrikofl? Dec. 19, 1950 475,281 Lafimer y 17 1892 2,775,365 Mestman et a1. Dec. 25, 1956 479,117 Denny July 19, 1892 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,587,936 Brunhofi June 8, 1926 635,204 France Dec. 20, 1947 

1. A DISPENSER FOR DISPLAYING MERCHANDISE COMPRISING: A BASE MEMBER, WALL MEANS MOUNTED ON SAID BASE MEMBER AND DEFINING A COMPARTMENT FOR CONTAINING ARTICLES OF MERCHANDISE, SAID WALL MEANS INCLUDING A PAIR OF SIDE WALLS MOUNTED IN SPACED RELATION FOR ALIGNING THE ARTICLES THEREBETWEEN, AND FRONT AND REAR WALLS MOUNTED IN SPACED RELATIONSHIP FOR ALIGNING THE ARTICLES BETWEEN THE FRONT AND REAR OF THE DISPENSER, FIRST BIASING MEANS INCLUDING SAID REAR WALL TO BIAS THE ARTICLES TOWARD THE FRONT OF SAID COMPARTMENT, SECOND BIASING MEANS INCLUDING SAID FRONT WALL TO BIAS THE ARTICLES TOWARD THE REAR OF SAID COMPARTMENT, 